Everything is going great for Alex and Corin. Last Christmas they finally connected, and they've been together for almost a year, but secretly. Alex wants to tell everyone he's in love with Corin. For his entire life, Corin has kept his sexuality a secret, going even as far as letting people assume his friend Heather was his girlfriend.

Being away at college has changed things for Corin, and he's finally ready to tell his family about himself and Alex. But when Alex’s sister Jen tries to use the secret relationship against him, it resurrects a ghost from Corin's past.

Present in hand, Alex hopes he and Corin can find a future together. Will their young love survive a holiday season full of mean siblings, crazy uncles, and Black Friday doorbusters?

EXCERPT:Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

“Jen’s cheating on Ryan?” Corin’s question sounded like his brain made the same trip through what-the-fuck-ville that mine had earlier. “Harsh.”

In Corin’s bedroom, we were Netflix-and-Chilllin’, literally and in a total non-euphemism way. Mrs. Perry, excuse me, Beverly, Corin’s mother -- who was freeing herself from the yoke of patriarchy by reclaiming her given name -- had invited me to stay for dinner. I’m in college, I don’t pass up free food.

“Yep,” I said, my lips popping together emphatically. I scrolled through Corin’s watch-list on Netflix. For fourteen dollars a month, you think there’d be more stuff worth watching.

“I wouldn’t get into it,” Corin advised.

“Ryan’s our friend. Shit, he’s going to be my brother-in-law.” I’d moved on to the horror category and scrolled through all three Hellraisers, crappy B-movie knock-offs of mainstream titles, and Asian horror films about disgruntled spirits with wet stringy black hair. No, thank you.

“Okay, but Ryan’s an adult,” said Corin.

“Last time I checked, you and I were adults too.” Nothing in the comedy genre appealed to me.

“He can buy liquor.” Corin’s argument made no sense.

“I’m six months away from that life milestone. By your logic, Ryan’s a more adultier adult who’s going to marry an adulteress.” I arched my eyebrow.

Corin flopped back on his bed. “Yes. No. I don’t know. I just think it’s a bad idea for you to get involved in someone else’s relationship.”

I went over to the side of the bed and sat down on the edge. “The only relationship I’m interested in is ours.” I rubbed his leg, giving his knee a light squeeze. “About those adult things ...” I crawled up close to him, positioning myself between his thighs. My fingers trailed along the fabric of his jeans and over the bulge of his semi-hard cock pressing against the zipper.

“My mom is home,” he panted. Corin pulled me down on him, crushing his lips to mine. I moaned into the open-mouthed kiss. This was so much better than our occasional sexy-Skype. My finger’s wound into Corin’s dark blonde curls, tugging gently.

A knock on the door startled us both. I tore away from Corin and sat back down on his desk chair. Corin cleared his throat and tried to compose himself. “Yeah?”

I smirked at him as he combed his hair down and re-arranged his parts.

“Hey.” Heather Fischer, Corin’s next-door neighbor, BFF, and life-long beard, popped her head in. “I didn’t interrupt anything?” She glanced between the two of us.

I said “Yes” in the same moment Corin said “No.” Heather looked confused for a second and came into the room anyway. She sat down on the bed beside Corin. I could see why everyone at our high school thought Heather and Corin were the perfect couple, both were some shade of blond and gave off that classic American kid-next-door vibe that people sang about in every country song ever. High school -- the reason it took me longer than it should have to wrap my head around the fact Heather and I weren’t in competition for Corin’s affection.

“I can’t stay long. What did you want to tell me that you can’t just text me?” Heather asked. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder. “Are you two getting married?” She probably already had her own subscription to Bride’s Magazine.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Corin got to it first.

“No,” he said.

Is he blushing? Shit. He’s blushing. Fuck. Now I’m blushing. I turned my head to give myself a minute to get rid of the stupid grin that had decided to appear on my face. My ears were still hot when I looked back at the two of them. I cleared my throat. “Tell her, she’s going to find out anyway,” I said encouragingly.

“I’m going to tell my family that I’m gay,” Corin said.

The shrill squeal coming out of Heather’s open mouth was borderline inhumane. I wiggled my finger in my ear, trying to get rid of the tickling sensation, surprised that neighborhood dogs weren’t barking. Heather clapped her hands together and threw her arms around Corin, hugging him. “I’m so happy for you. Are you doing something special?”

Corin shook his head. “Not everybody’s coming out story is a viral internet meme.”

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes it felt like that. For every one of my queer or trans friends with personal stories of acceptance of love, there were three or four that had been through unimaginable shit for being who they were. Silence is the better part of valor.

“Oh,” Heather nodded her head. “When are you going to do it?”

“Tonight.” Corin swallowed. I took his hand and twined our fingers together.